


After The Hellmouth

by JustAChemical



Series: Teen Wolf/Buffy & Angel (Verse 1) [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Comics 2019), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Army, Blood and Gore, Creeper Peter Hale, Cussing, Dark Horse Buffy the Vampire Slayer Comics, Death, Demons, F/F, F/M, Female Liam Dunbar, Flashbacks, Ghosts, Good Theo Raeken, Good and Evil, Human Deucalion, Human Jordan Parrish, Human Liam Dunbar, Human Peter Hale, Human Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Human Vernon Boyd, Magic, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, Mild Sexual Content, Multi, RIP Allison Argent, RIP Cora Hale, RIP Sheriff Stilinski, Sex, Slayer Braeden, Slayer Erica Reyes, Slayer Hayden Romero, Slayer Kira Yukimura, Slayer Malia Tate, Slayer Stiles Stilinski, Vampire Derek Hale, Vampire Theo Raeken, Vampires, Violence, War, Warlock Chris Argent, Warlocks, Watcher Deucalion, Weapons, Werewolf Jackson Whittemore, Werewolves, Witch Kate Argent, Witch Lydia Martin, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:42:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27239011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAChemical/pseuds/JustAChemical
Summary: If you're a Buffy fan.If you're a Teen Wolf fan.If you have or haven't read both their fandom comics.Basically all the Teen Wolf characters in the Buffy and Angel universe as those characters. Not really a crossover, more of a mesh.(This is what happens in quarantine when you're as obsessive as I am).Enjoy or don't. I just really enjoy writing this.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Deucalion & Stiles Stilinski, Ethan/Jackson Whittemore, Kate Argent & Derek Hale, Kate Argent/Peter Hale, Liam Dunbar & Stiles Stilinski, Liam Dunbar/Scott McCall, Lydia Martin & Jackson Whittemore, Lydia Martin & Stiles Stilinski, Lydia Martin/Erica Reyes, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski, Stiles Stilinski/Malia Tate, Theo Raeken/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Teen Wolf/Buffy & Angel (Verse 1) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1999555
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	1. The Long Way Home (Part 1)

**Author's Note:**

> The dialogue is all from the official Buffyverse comics and obviously the plotlines that come with. However, the descriptive writing in between is worded all by me by what I interpret from those pages.
> 
> &
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> I won't try to persuade you to brown-nose me in the comment section or to bookmark, subscribe or kudos. That is up to you if you find you enjoy reading this. But please, no hateful comments.
> 
> &
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> Thank you for taking the time to read this!
> 
> &
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> Enjoy!

'The thing about changing the world... Once you do it, the world's all different.'

The Sun rises over the planet, but as Stiles and three other Slayers dive out of the helicopter, they free fall, sailing down into the blackness of the night.

Thanks to Scott's fine craftsmanship, she's armed with a new crossbow, bigger, but somehow lighter than the others. The first arrow placed is magically infused, thanks to Lydia and as she and the other Slayers near the old abandoned church below, Stiles takes aim and shoots.

'Everybody calls me "ma'am" these days. And there used to only be one Slayer in all of the world.'

The arrow seems to pierce a magical barrier surrounding the church, having the desired effect it defuses. A bright white flash briefly lights up a portion of the night sky and Stiles lands gracefully on the stone walkway to the highest tower of the church, the other Slayers mere seconds behind her.

'There are eighteen hundred Slayers, now that we've counted. Almost five hundred working with us in ten separate squads placed all around. Mason is in Italy, Deucalion is in England, Corey's managing the New York squad (bless his heart). Brett and his sister are also helping us out in Cleveland, Ohio and Boyd is in Chicago (probably still waiting for that call back from Kira). Derek is still in L.A., as far as I know and I have no idea where Theo or Kira are. But that's nothing new... And oh yeah, there's even three of me now.'

Stiles takes a quick glance at her surroundings, then pulls out the handheld radio. She presses the button and speaks into it; "The arrow worked, field's vaped and we're on the roof."

Scott's voice buzzes back through the static; "Access should be right in front of you."

Stiles sees the planks of wood nailed to the opening of the tower. "Malia, open her up." She's gotten used to commanding her girls like soldiers, the years she lead her friends probably having something to do with it.

Malia - the most enthusiastic to be a Slayer and who Scott dubs as teacher's pet - salutes Stiles and glides over to the opening. With ease and glee at that ease she finds with her newfound strength, she rips the wooden planks from the stone wall and throws them aside as quietly as she can. She doesn't want to give them away to the enemy, but more importantly to her, she doesn't want to disappoint Stiles.

'The guys - mainly Deucalion and Scott - figured I was a target. But when am I not? So anyway, they set up two other Slayers to be me. The third is on some sub-mission underground. Literally underground...'

"I can't see a thing, ma'am." Malia says as she takes a quick peek inside. She's, okay, a little annoyed that night vision doesn't come with the so called Slayer gift package, but the strength she feels alone when she's in the moment of a fight is the best she's ever known.

Stiles arches a suspicious brow as she stares into the darkness of the chamber. "I can smell a thing, though..."

'The first girl's in Rome, partying very publically. Oh, and supposedly dating someone called "The Immortal." That part was all Mason's idea. Said he did extensive research on the guy. But he also said it would be hilarious for some reason. Here though, at command central? Not so much with the hilarity. More with the "what the hell am I even doing?"'

"What the hell is she doing!?" Hayden exclaims, eyes widening as she watches The Slayer charge blindingly into the pitch black chamber.

Stiles doesn't think, just bolts into the darkness, like she's done so many times before. Her Slayer instincts have never failed her to this day and she quickly let's Scott know her plans before holstering the radio.

'It's not all that different, though. I've still got my demons. I've still got my friends. And I've still got my Watcher.'

&

'I used to be in the construction work...'

Somewhere hidden in the Highlands of Scottland, the headquarters are basically a run down bunker from the 40s. Gloomy in aesthetic, but very much alive and buzzing, literally, with magic.

Scott is literally the only male, surrounded by Slayers either training with one another or learning magicks to top off their Slayer prowess. Some of them even seem to have stronger psychic links than Stiles herself ever did. Something Scott always notes Stiles never took interest in, though, Stiles always says she has Lydia for that. Really, Scott knows she's just lazy.

Scott stands on the small podium, stares up at the many monitors glaring brightly back down at him.

A few more Slayers are tasked with manning the computers, but each girl has their turn in all shifts around here. It keeps order and most importantly, peace in the bunker where nearly three hundred people live.

"You're five-by-five, Mieczy." Scott grins, because he knows what's coming and true enough -

"Don't call me that, Eyepatch!" Stiles growls into the radio. "I'm going in." She then grumbles.

'How original.' Scott thinks with humour and continues, knowing she can still hear him. "Satellite has them clustered by the altar and our psychics read them as unaware. Soon as Braeden is placed, we're good to go."

'The pay was good. The hours were way better than this. They even ended occasionally.'

"Mister McCall, sir," Renee, one of the three Slayers managing the main desk calls over to Scott. "We've got a development with the Barcelona squad. The vamp nest looks a lot bigger than they thought."

'But when duty calls... You don't exactly get to screen... Ever.'

"How many in the squad?" Scott asks as he walks briskly over.

"Seven." Renee says, voice uneasy as she types madly away at the keyboard. "Corinne's running them, but they're pretty green."

Scott takes a moment to think before he says, "Mason's still working Southern Italy - tell him to pick his ten best and hop over."

Renee nods. "Roger that."

"Tell him," Scott huffs, "His ten best. NOT his ten best dressed. We don't want another Orvieto."

"Yes, Mister McCall."

"Scott." He smirks. "I told you. Call me Scott... Or Sergeant Fury, if you must."

Renee grins back over her shoulder at him and quite smugly says, "Wasn't Nick Fury a Colonel when he ran S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Scott arches a brow, looks rather... Surprised? "I like him better in the Howling Commando days. But your nerd points are accumulating impressively." He chuckles as he walks away.

Renee thanks whoever's listening for that, because she instantly feels her cheeks flush. "I try, Sergeant." She murmurs to herself with a secret smile.

"Okay, Stiles," Scott stands back in front of the three monitors live feed of the girls bodycams. "Game on."

'I miss Allison...'

&

Stiles can hear the girls following as best they can in the dark behind her. She sees a crack in the wall ahead, where light is shining through and fly-kicks right into it. The wall bursts easily at the sheer force of a Slayer - Thee Slayer, as some of the girls call her - and instantly her eyes land on the two massive demon looking creatures before she even notices the bodies.

'The bodies... Fuck, I don't even notice them anymore.' Stiles thinks briefly, feeling slightly disturbed by herself. She doesn't carry on that train of thought, doesn't want to speculate what that says about her. Instead, she thinks, 'These girls' first real live dead victims. I gotta get them passed it. Make them focus. Make them Slayers.' A small part of her, worryingly thinks, 'Make them like me...' But she's Thee Slayer and she moves passed that for them.

"Girls," Stiles glances behind her to the three of them, all looking wide eyed at the eight feet tall twin demons. "Flank them. Now."

The girls all look between one another before drawing their weapons of choice and following orders like good little soldiers.

Stiles would feel guilty if she had the time, but instead she charges towards the nearest demon.

"This one looks tasty." The demon - with red glowing eyes, green leathery skin, claws and teeth as long as Stiles' fricking arm and large brown tusks - growls out in delight.

"Thanks. I work out like crazy. Glad someone finally noticed." Stiles chirps just before her foot collides hard with the demon's incoming swipe of his arm. And quippy comebacks have always been her thing while she beats the bad guys to a bloody pulp and she doesn't care that it's stupid.

The demon swipes at her again and again, angered more and more at every miss.

Stiles doesn't think these stupid demons have heard of Slayers let alone heard of her. Not to be big headed hear, but apparently she's very famous and very feared in the supernatural world. The former, okay, she has to admit it's kind of nice to be like a celebrity of sorts, especially with the horrific nightmarish lifestyle she lives. But the latter definitely sits well with her, makes her feel powerful to know that she's feared by the things that everyone fears goes bump in the night. And also, totally okay that it paints less of target on her and more importantly her friends and family with the baddies who know what's good for them.

Stiles thinks she also gets a little too into her own head at times, at the wrong times and she's right, because next thing she knows, the demons slipped his tail around her ankle and thrown her clear across the large church hall. She goes crashing back into the altar, landing directly and thankfully flat on the large golden cross.

"Little girls, foolish little girls." The demon that threw Stiles swirls around to meet his brother, who seems to be toying with the Slayers.

"Lost the element of surprise." His brother chuckles, though it sounds more like gurgles.

The girls freeze, their eyes wide as they stare up at the demons in horror and Malia might have even cried if it hadn't been for the loud distraction.

Stiles actually feels a little relief for the help when the church windows suddenly come crashing in all around them, more Slayers to the rescue. The other squad rain down large and hard enough arrows to pierce the demons all over and it's weirdly music to Stiles' ears as she listens to them choking loudly on their own disgusting greeny brown blood. But she knows it's not done yet.

"Woo! Das lief gut!" Mia exclaims and Stiles' German is rusty, but she thinks somewhere along the lines of; "fucking awesome." Probably not so elaborate, though.

The other girls in Mia's squad file into the hall, a couple staring uneasily at the dead human bodies, some high fiving and her three girls thanking Mason's girls for saving their lives.

"Killed my brother! Stupid humans! I am NO vampire!" The demon who fricking yeeted her ass rips the arrows from his throat, briefly glares at the arrows lodged in his brother's open skull. He laughs at the human who now wields the large golden cross. "You think I fear the cross?" He lunges at her after such insult.

"Might wanna start." Stiles quips as she runs the pointy end of the golden cross right into the demon's head, his pink and greeny blood spraying all over her.

"That were a wee bit repulsive." Rowena (one of Mason's girls) says, though her face is filled with humour.

"Eh, I've killed grosser." Stiles replies. "Although, I do feel a little weird for using a cross to kill."

Braeden laughs. "You really don't know much about religion, do you?"

Stiles can't help but smirk.

"Ma'am," Malia calls out and Stiles turns to see her standing over the human bodies; the victims. "What is this?" She points down to one of the male victims, sprawled out in a bloody mess of broken bones and torn flesh.

Stiles goes to see what the fuss is about and there on the man's chest is a symbol she's not immediately familiar with; a half moon or maybe even a sun on the horizon with a single four pointed star in the top left of what seems to be a scar rather than a tattoo.

"Doesn't look recent." Stiles notes, hoping the girls are taking mental notes for their future hunts; slays.

"Well, they were hostages for a while, I'm guessing." Braeden notes.

'Good,' Stiles thinks, 'They're learning.'

"Malia," Stiles says, "Zoom in on the symbol."

"Yes, ma'am." Malia does as she told, as she ever does.

Stiles grabs the radio from her belt, presses the button and speaks into it. "Scott, send this to records for Lydia and fill Deucalion in on it, too."

Scott replies with a simple; "On it."

"Was denkst du?" Mia asks, looks rather thrilled, more so than any of the other girls. She seems to be right in her element.

"I think...?" Stiles trails off because she knows Mia speaks perfect English, which just annoys her. But at least she seems to be learning another language.

Mia nods.

Stiles smiles proudly to herself. "Right." She nods. "I think that the mark is self inflicted. Check the others."

Sure enough, when the girls check the rest of the bodies, they all have the same mark in the same place.

"I don't think these are random victims." Stiles says. "I think these people were looking for a fight." She says as she grabs the very large shotgun strapped to her back.

While the girls are all looking around for more clues, Mia unveils a weird looking device. It looks rather shoddy, but Mia seems to figure out what it is. "I zink," She calls out to the others, only using English when she knows it's important. "Dat ze forcefeld was deirs, too."

Braeden arches a brow. "So they wanted to be alone with those things? That doesn't seem to add up."

Stiles nods in agreement. "This is all very bad math. And I may be dumb in most other areas, but killing bad guys and math are my strong suits... But that symbol..." She still doesn't know if she's seen it before, but surely she would remember. "That symbol's gonna hopefully clear this all up."

&

Just outside, floating in midair a few meters above the church, he waits, he watches, like he has done for a while now. Most importantly, he listens, his keen vampire ears able to hear Stiles' every word.

"That's gonna tell us what those guys are part of."


	2. The Long Way Home (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'How does that happen?'

"An army."

There are four men in the chopper, flying through the sunny skies of California. One is a scientist and somewhat of a politician, one is the general and the other two are the pilot and his second in command.

"You don't think that's overstating it, General Voll?"

General Voll doesn't remember the stupid politician's name nor does he care to, especially when he hears his rather snooty tone. 'This idiot's got no idea what's really going on.' He thinks bitterly.

The man continues, thinking he knows exactly what he's talking about and the General let's him, for a moment. "Our intel says they're too loosely affiliated to... Well, I mean they're far too scattered in those..."

"Squads." General Voll scoffs. "Right. Terrorists just call them 'cells'." He's already heard enough from this bumbling fool. "We go ahead with the plan. We gotta be together on exactly what we're facing here. And that's a fucking army." He growls out, pointing an angry finger in the man's face. "They got power, they got resources and they got a hard-line ideology that does NOT jibe with American interests."

The man's eyes are slightly widened at the outburst and the General hopes he'll be convinced enough when he sees the proof for himself in mere seconds now.

"Worst of all," General Voll grumbles. "They got a leader. Unfortunately, a damn good one. Charismatic, uncompromising and completely destructive."

The man looks out the window when the General points for him to do so and his eyes widen completely at what he sees below.

"I mean for the love of God," General Voll says as he too looks out the window. "Look what she did to her own hometown..."

The crater is large, about the size of a certain town that coincidentally used to settle here and had done for hundreds of years until just eight months ago.

Oddly, there were no reports of deaths, but General Voll leaves that part out, because he knows that this evil bitch wiped out an entire town with just a few of her friends.

"Oh, my..." The man gasps lightly.

General Voll scoffs again. "More like 'oh, fuck!'" He says, then with sheer determination, "We need to find this woman and put her down."

&

General Voll orders the chopper to land at the small settlement the rest of his troops have set up just a few yards from the crater.

"We have you at sixty feet under. Over."

The control comms are in the tent, shielded by the scolding desert Sun.

"You must be picking up some traces by now. Over."

A group of four soldiers are geared up in hazmat suits and situated down at ground zero of the crater.

"That's a negative, sir. Unless you count the creeps it's giving me."

Another two are even further down, underground and one of them scoffs through his radio up to his buddies. "Giving you the creeps? How do you think we feel down here?"

The second soldier shines his flashlight as the other one uses his tracer.

"It's like a museum down here. But no bodies, sir. And no mystical readings, either."

"Yeah, so can we come back up now, please, sir?"

"Wait, did you hear that?"

"Don't do that, man. Don't mess -"

"Shut up! I'm not! Listen."

The soldier's flashlight wobbles slightly as he shakes in fear, his eyes wide and alert and then he sure as shit hears a quiet shuffling.

"Men?"

They hear the General's voice, but ignore it as they both swirl around to meet their terrifying ends in the darkness and by what, they have no clue, which only adds to the terror.

Meanwhile safely up in their comms tent, General Voll and his troops can only listen to their screams.

&

"So?" Stiles mumbles around her mouthful of sandwich as she eagerly stuffs her face.

"So, nothing from the so called experts." Scott rolls his eyes as he flicks aimlessly through YouTube videos on one of the monitors. "But I've been studying it for a few weeks."

Stiles is sat on the desk in front of him and takes another bite instead of having basic manners and spits out, "And?" Looks only half interested. But only because she's tired. And somehow restless at the same time.

Scott huffs, clicks off the YouTube tab and back onto the photo that Malia sent of the symbol found of those bodies. He stares at it seriously for a second before saying, "I think it's a frown turned upside down. And then turned upside down again."

"So, you think it's a frown?" Stiles humours him with a small smirk.

Scott rolls his eyes, but smirks back. "Guy with a monocle frowning."

Stiles shakes her head in dismay. "You're a terrible Deaucalion."

Scott tries to look offended. "Well, I'm not stuffy and British for one and second, I'm not a Watcher. Those guys train for years. I've been at... Whatever this is, for months."

"Well, clearly." Stiles replies snootily, but she can't help chuckling at his adorable "puppy pout."

"By the way, love how you've been avoiding the subject all night." Scott gives her a look when she scowls at him. "You still need to talk to Lia."

"I think it's a beautiful sunset." Stiles says around her last bite, licking the crumbs from her fingers as she stares at the monitor and purposefully avoiding his dark chocolate gaze.

"Seriously, Stiles," Scott huffs, but this time it's an exasperated sound. "You gotta see Lia."

Stiles lets out a similar sound, her head hanging low in defeat, because she knows he's right, he's always fucking right. "But she's just gonna whine again."

And Scott shakes his head, but can't help smirking a little because why did he even expect maturity from this scenario?

"Well, she has a lot to whine about lately." Scott notes, hopes she'll see the littlest Stilinkski's side of things.

"You know there's nothing I can actually do until we can find Lydia." Stiles points out, arching a brow at her so called best friend.

Scott mirrors her expression and says, "You could be her big sister again."

&

'Scott is such a fuckjar when he's right.'

Stiles huffs to herself and doesn't care how petulant she sounds as she makes her way across the grassy fields.

'But - and I know this sounds mean (but I DO have more pressing... worldly matters to deal with as of late) - all Lia does lately is talk about her problems.'

Stiles finally reaches the old abandoned church and suddenly feels guilty that it's taken her the two weeks it has for her to finally come visit again.

'And okay...'

Stiles opens the half rotted wooden door and steps into the half rundown stone walls and ceiling.

'Her problems have actually gotten a little... Bigger...'

"Hey. Thought I'd come see you." Stiles shuts the door behind her. She stays at the top of the stairs, because at this height she's actually eye level with her little sister's giant eyeballs and giant head and... Giant everything. She barely fricking fits in hall, her head brushing the potholed roof.

"Because Scott made you." Lia scoffs, her giant hand absentmindedly picks up one of the empty wine barrels and plays around with it like a child playing with a Lego car.

"No. What are talking about?" Stiles feels even more guilt and a little shame when her sister just arches a brow, because she knows she sees right through that lie. Stiles sighs as she leans against the rusty rail.

"Has Lydia called yet?"

"No." Stiles doesn't bother lying. "I'm sure she will soon as she can though... But..." She tries to be the sister she used to be before all of this madness and all of these girls that she's had to take care of. "If you told me about it, I could at least get some of the apprentice witches to -"

"I'm NOT talking to you about it." Lia isn't actually glaring (for once) instead she looks rather alarmed.

Stiles is just confused. "But you'll talk to Lydia?" She tries not to sound too hung up on that.

Lia notices and feels slightly guilty, because she does know her sister does try, always has and she loves her for that. But she's far too embarrassed and - "Lydia just... She understands me. She and Cora taught me a lot. Especially when you were... Y'know... Dead."

Lia winces slightly, but that's not the part that makes Stiles jealous. "Taught you a lot of what?" She tries to sound, casual, act collected, but she can't help herself. "Just KINDA sounds like you think this is all my fault..." She trails off awkwardly, motions with her hands to her sister's twenty foot frame.

Lia glares at her, knowing exactly where this is going. Again.

"I mean, you were dating a thricewise." Stiles barely grumbles out the words.

Lia's already giving her death glares, while exclaiming, "Kenny never said he was a thricewise!"

Stiles tries to hold onto her smug grin. "No. I said he was a thricewise. Braeden said he was a thricewise. Deucalion said he was a thricewise and he only ever met the guy once, over the fricking phone!" And on that note she can't help cackling, only earning yet another glare of death.

"Whatever." Lia mutters, broadly rolls the barrel in her hand along the dusty floor.

Stiles feels guilt well up inside her chest and can't help feel sympathetic. "You should go out every once in while. Run around the moors. Not like you could get lost."

Lia shoots her a look. "It's too cold. I may be a giant, but I'm still human." She huffs, "Why do we have to be in Scotland?"

Stiles smiles, feels rather proud as she says, "YOU don't have to be in Scotland. You COULD be in Berkeley."

Lia rolls her eyes. "Believe me, soon as I'm a human-sized human, I am outta here."

Stiles pretends like that notion doesn't bother her, acts like it doesn't hurt her heart to know that the only actual family she has left can't stand to be around her anymore. "I gotta get back to the fort." She mumbles half miserably.

Lia feels even more guilt, but as usual she turns this into anger. "I could squash you like a bug, y'know?"

Stiles rolls her eyes and ignores the fact that Lia uses the very words (the crazy bitch goddess - as Theo used to call her) Jennifer uttered to her, nearly five years ago now.

Instead of doing the mature, big sisterly thing of moving passed it, Stiles grits out; "Y'know your ass looks fat in those giant jeans." She then slams the wooden door behind her before her sister can react.

'How does that happen?'

Stiles huffs and sulks to herself as she marches back out of the church.

'How do we turn into twelve year olds so quickly? Everytime we fucking talk these days!'

Stiles slows her angry pace to clear her head as she walks along the always gloomy, but somehow stunning and peaceful green moors.

'Face it. We haven't gotten along at all since...'

Stiles stops and takes a deep breath.

'Since we changed the world.'

Stiles looks all around her and while it's serene and wonderful she still can't help thinking that it's just not like home.

'I miss Sunnydale... I miss my dad...'


	3. The Long Way Home (Part 3)

'...I miss the Scoobies; the gang... I miss curly fries... I miss sex... Fuck, do I miss sex... Sex with Derek was the greatest, but we know how well that turned... Sex with Theo was honestly almost as good... Sex with Jordan was... Nice, but kinda samey... Ugh! STOP thinking about sex!'

Stiles scrunches up her face in frustration, shakes her head and continues along the moors just as it begins to rain lightly.

'Oh, I just KNOW Lia had sex with Kenny and that's why she won't tell me anything! But she will tell Lydia!?'

Stiles huffs.

'Her first time and it all goes to shit! Which I am definitely well versed in. And how the hell is Lydia the expert on men!?'

Stiles pauses again and takes a deep breath to calm herself. She's being ridiculous and she knows it.

'Outstanding. I can't even feel sorry for myself in a linear fashion anymore.'

Stiles sighs.

'Just suck it up, Stilinkski. Like you always do.'

Stiles continues, finally making her way down into the bunker, but doesn't forget to scald herself.

'You're a big girl now. Start acting like it.'

&

"Good Lord!" General Voll has to take a step back from the door. The window is barely bigger than his hand, but it's enough to see more than he thinks he needed. He feels slightly sick to his stomach. "How the fuck is that thing even still alive?" He asks once he's composed himself.

The doctor replies, "Well, magic... Obviously."

The General and the politician (slash scientist) follow the doctor as he guides them to their final room.

"We believe Subject One is keeping him alive. Keeping them both alive, after the decimation." The doctor explains.

"But.... I mean, did they eat? What did they eat?" General Voll asks, with a dreaded expression.

"Best guess? Who ever else was trapped down there with them." The Doctor says, wearing a grave look.

"Christ." General Voll feels slightly sick again. "At least tell me they had the decency to go insane." He says, exasperated.

"Unstable, but surprisingly coherent." The Doctor looks slightly amazed as he stops in front of the female's door. "Subject One is more vocal in the last few weeks. Once our man underground got over his screaming fits, he told us her first words - 'I'm gonna help you kill her.'"

General Voll's iron blue eyes flash with fury. "Who the fuck compromised our intel!?"

"Magic, General." The Doctor looks a little amused.

"There aren't any God damn rules!"

"That's sort of what I meant."

"Do you think she can actually help us?" The scientist finally pipes up, still holding his little briefcase of important documents.

"Yeah. What does she want in return?" General Voll isn't stupid - he knows nothing is ever free, that people are always too greedy.

"Access to all our magical hardware and a 'weapons lab' for her 'boyfriend.'" The Doctor can't help smirking.

General Voll rolls arches a brow. "You can't seriously mean they -"

"Try not to picture it." The Doctor's smug expression falls into one of disgust as he tries to heed his own advice.

"Fuck me." And now the General feels sick all over again.

"She also wants to them both released with full immunity if they succeed in taking down Mieczysława Stilinkski. And..." The Doctor frowns at this part; "She wants cheese, for some reason... A lot of it."

"Cheese." General Voll mutters with a shake of his head. "Of course she does."

The General sighs and finally takes a look at her and he's grateful that she's not all burned and flayed up like the other subject. This one's pretty, he notes, apart from the many small scars scattered around every inch of his skin and the psychotic look in her blue eyes, she's pretty much supermodel pretty.

"We got a name for this pretty little nutjob?"

The Doctor replies, "Says her name is Kate."

&

'I was a Watcher once...'

Down in the pretty courtyard, there are exactly eighty-eight Slayers all beating the living crap out one another.

'The organisation existed long before there were ever any towns or cities, only tribes, if the legends are true... The Watchers Council. Always moving. Always secret. But very much alive.'

"That all you got!?"

"Bring it, bitch!"

"Oh, how original!"

"Fuck you!"

"Um, Taylor. Less of that on sacred grounds, please."

"Sorry, Mister Wolfe!"

The girls bicker and continue to train under Deucalion's "watchful" eye as he just sits back on the balcony and sips his afternoon tea - God, he's missed real English tea, not the dregs they give you in American.

'There were hundreds of us Watchers. But always one Slayer.'

Deucalion watches the eighty-eight Slayers before him, all training to be the best, the One. In truth, he thinks there can never be another like Stiles. Not even Thessily, from ancient Greece, the oldest Slayer ever known, reaching her mid forties when almost all Slayers never even reached their twentieth birthday.

Stiles is twenty-seven. And even the few Slayers dotted throughout history never reached that age. On top of that, he knows from his years of studying that no Slayer, absolutely zero, have stopped the apocalypse more than once or twice, whereas with Stiles, it quickly became just another daily occurrence.

He truly is proud of her as if she were his own daughter, let alone his pride over being her Watcher; being The Slayer's Watcher.

"Alright, ladies," Deucalion finishes the last sips of his tea and slowly rises from his seat. He walks over to the balcony's edge and stares down at all of the Slayers as they all stare back up at him. "Take a small break."

'As seen, those scales have been tipped, somewhat.'

Deucalion takes a breath before he addresses them, one Watcher watching over many Slayers for the first time in history. "I see some of you fighting out here. Technique and power that may just give Stiles herself a run for her money." He sends them an encouraging smile. "Impressive force." His smile quickly morphs into a smug smirk. "All of it, of course, is utterly useless."

He can't help his growing amusement at their scowls and glares and tries not to feel any guilt for the ones he sees that look rather distraught.

The girls all glance amongst themselves before turning their attention back to their Watcher when he speaks again.

"You're all fighting alone. Getting in one another's way. Not one of you protecting the other's flanks. You are failing to remember that their is no single Slayer in all of the world anymore. This one asset is something Stiles herself never had..."

'Of course I could tell them of Tracy and most importantly, Kira's rather dark past, but I fear this would just complicate things. Probably put a few of them off, make them distrust their fellow piers. No. That is a story for another time...'

"You must remember that you are no longer alone."


	4. The Long Way Home (Part 4)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'Man's got no idea what's at stake here.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peter and Cora are not related to Derek or to one another. Cora was also human and a witch.

"You have each other." Stiles says, "One Slayer fighting alone is, okay, yeah, formidable. Two Slayers? Even more so. Three Slayers? Mega-formidable. And after that, well, you catch the drift."

There are just shy of two hundred Slayers gathered around Stiles on the moors, while others are either manning the computers back at the fort with Scott or off on little training missions either she or Scott have sent them on for the day.

"Malia, Mia, Braeden and Hayden..." Stiles smirks at them, holding her wooden training sword at the ready. "Would the four of you kindly kick my ass? And don't be shy about."

They do as requested with one final look between one another, but as Stiles predicts, they all attack her at once. All are from different angles, 'at least,' she thinks, but they are all working as if they are alone, as if trying to win the game first.

Stiles shows them with very little effort that this is not and never will be any kind of game.

Braeden tries to attack from behind and Stiles quickly sends a roundhouse kick to her gut, sending her flying back onto the grass.

Hayden is even easier as Stiles swirls around her and kicks the backs of her knees in, making her sink to the dewy ground.

Malia and Mia finally seem to take on some of what she's been telling them; Mia hunches down and Malia presses a foot to her back and leaps off into the air with her sword raining down.

Stiles simply steps aside and let's the slightly off timing do its job as Malia lands flat on her stomach. And then before Mia can even stand, let alone raise her wooden sword, Stiles has the tip of her own pointing in her face.

"So," Stiles pulls her sword back and offers her hand to Malia, tries not to laugh at the splatters of mud on her pretty face. "Three perfectly valid avenues of attack, good form... On seasoned, well-trained corpses. One of whom, sidebar: has the best curls ever; Malia, you're making me think I need a new look. See me after training today."

Malia blushes heavily, only a few other the girls who bother looking her way noticing. Thankfully, she thinks, Stiles doesn't.

"So, let's break this down." Stiles continues, "Your first clue this was going downhill? Clearly..."

&

"...Lando Calrissian's outfit." Mason states it like its the most obvious thing in the world.

He's sitting around the massive campfire his girls helped the others make and he's so glad he and the girls are able to stay a few weeks. He loves living in Rome, of course, it's every bit as glamorous (aside from the demons) as he thought it could be. But he misses the old gang.

Some of the girls scoff at him, Mason only declares, "Well, I knew a lot of you were gonna say Ewoks, but that's way too easy. I love Empire. Of course I love Empire. Let's not question my loyalties, but the moment I saw Billy D. in the Hizzy I smelled the troubles. I mean, it's great that George Lucas wanted to have an African-Bespinian character in the mix, but then he shows up with the cape and the little bell bottoms and I'm thinking, 'Oh, he's gonna help Han Solo and Chewie just as soon as he finishes the magic show for the kids birthday party.' I mean, knock, knock here, common sense trying to get in, door's locked, I'll buy a race of teddy bears with unstoppable tree-trunk technology any day over THAT outfit on a leader. THAT outfit gets you beat up is what. Especially at a... Pep rally in Junior High, where you were supposed to be dressed like a cougar..."

When Mason realises his ramblings and finally looks up, all the girls are staring blankly or in confusion. Some even in boredom.

He clears his throat and says, "I heard that last part from a friend... So, uh... Did that answer your question?" He vaguely remembers there was one.

"No." Simone, the punk girl with the goggles and the purple mohawk (and a slight attitude problem, Mason's always thought, kind of like Kira... But worse).

"'Kay." Mason smiles goofily. "What was it again?"

Simone huffs. "Weapons."

Mason nods. "Right... Weapons..."

Simone huffs again, growing more impatient. "How come we still use all the medieval junk? We could totally use get some guns, do some REAL damage. We're fighting demons here! Let's up the ante."

Mason shakes his head. 'These girls have so much to learn,' he thinks. "You didn't listen to a word that I said, did you?"

"Abouy Lando Carlrissian?" Simone arches a brow, doesn't look impressed at all with her so called teacher.

Mason ignores the attitude that seeps out of her words. "No Slayer carries a gun. Ever."

He tries not to think of Peter shooting Stiles and killing Cora and how Lydia killed Peter and almost killed him, too. 

"Ever, m'kay? ...Good talk." Mason clears his head and says, "Okay. Let's start up with headbutts, shall we? Some do's and don'ts."

&

"You don't think that's overstating it?"

The next afternoon, Scott goes to visit Lia to keep her company for her bath. Less creepy than it sounds as Scott sits on the small hill under the overhanging oak tree, his back facing her as she bathes in the small lake. Her twenty foot frame takes up half the water, making it look more like a natural bathtub.

Lia glares at the back of his tiny head. "I'm a giant, Scott. Everything I state is over."

Scott can't help smiling to himself. "She does NOT hate you." And he can't believe he even has to tell her this.

"Oh, yes, she does. She hates me."

"Um, oh, no, she doesn't."

Lia huffs, "Fine. She doesn't hate me." She somehow holds down the small lump in her throat as she says, "She just wishes I would go away."

"Or she just wishes you were at Berkeley getting an education in something that doesn't involve stomping on villagers, good old-fashioned giant style." Scott says, "That doesn't mean she doesn't like having you around."

"All she does is yell at me."

"And you, what? Recite her sonnets?"

Lia shoots another pointless glare to the back of his head.

"Stop glaring at me." Scott smirks when he hears her huff again. "Point is; sisters fight. It's like a rule."

"What'd you know? You don't even have a sister."

"Um, have you noticed who else we live with? I got more sisters than one guy ever needs. I mean, the amount of washing up alone that they generate is outta this world."

"Right..."

Lia doesn't want to be that little brat she (admittedly) used to be. She's almost twenty now, but she's always felt more connected to Stiles than basic sisters. Because she is; she is literally created from Stiles.

So she can't help the bitterness that comes out when she says, "Stiles and all her new and improved Slayer sisters." Even though she knows he knows her true feelings, Lia pretends not to care as much as she does as she begins to thoroughly wash her face in the lake, small waves forming as she scoops it up.

"Lia..."

Scott admits that he's not the brightest of people at the best of times, but if there's one thing he knows he's good at, it's intuition and empathy. Like he said to Lia once; he sees people, he sees everyone, because no one is watching him.

"Yeah?" Lia is slightly confused by his rather dramatic pause.

"Don't squish me, but did you make yourself a giant on purpose?" Now, it's Scott's turn to wait for an answer and he does with a slight wariness.

Lia can't even find it in her to glare at him this time. She's just shocked. And a little hurt. And she shows this by cupping the biggest handful of water in her giant hands and dumping it right over his head.

Scott just accepts his fate, nodding with his one eye shut as the water soaks him through to the skin.

Lia huffs loud and clear so he can hear, the lake water sloshing all around her as she swirls around so that her back is facing his.

Scott rings out his eye patch before putting it back on and grumbles, "Y'know, I only have two of these outfits."

&

"We have insertion, sir."

The building is labelled: "DREXTALCORP RECYCLING TECHNOLOGIES" and while it is exactly that on the surface, thirty yards underground, there runs a secret militant communications network.

"Our operation should be in and out by now." Says the politician (slash scientist) as he follows the General along the corridor.

"Should." General Voll mutters before stopping in front of a door. He turns to glare at the younger man. "Do you know what good SHOULD does me?"

"You're obviously going to say 'not much.'"

General Voll's glare darkens. He huffs and turns to the door to swipe his key card.

The room turns out to be the secret elevator that takes them down into the secret operations. Both men step inside and the general shuts the door before pressing in a code.

General Voll stands back and waits as the elevator slowly starts to move. "I'm gonna say a good God damn deal more than that. If we can get coordinates on that bitch, we should be able to nuke her whole damn site and hopefully all of the other ones along with her."

Once the elevator passes under ground level, it travels down through a glass tube, allowing the politician to see busy soldiers at work with comms and weapons.

"Well, that will definitely get us noticed... Then indicted... Then probably hanged."

General Voll rolls his eyes as the elevator finally stops. "I don't expect a suit like you to have the kind of commitment -"

"What if it doesn't work?" The politician is more afraid of his bosses than he is of the general as he cuts him off somewhat impatiently.

General Voll scoffs as they both exit the elevator. "There is NO problem, so big or complicated that it can't be blown up. We just don't share that detail with the public, but..."

"We're dealing with real life magic here. Leave that to the magicians, okay? Working with Kate and your operation is the best way to go for our government right now."

General Voll pauses and turns to glare at him. "And what if she blows it? Do we send that monstrosity she calls a boyfriend in after her?"

"That... Thing really is quite something." The politician wrinkles his nose with disgust, but sighs as he says, "And yes, I think we do."

General Voll huffs, but seems to agree. "I'm gonna get some shut-eye. Wake me with a report."

"Of course."

"Let's just hope it's a good one."

When the politician nods and walks away, Voll turns back to his office door, presses the code on the keypad and walks in. He let's the doors shut on it's own behind him and let's out a tired sigh as he finally takes his hat off. He places it on the hook-stand and walks over to his desk where a bottle of half drunk whiskey and last night's dirty glass is waiting for him.

'Just a suit. Walks and talks. Has, by chance, a man in it.'

Voll slowly begins to undress, starts by unbuttoning his jacket.

'Man's got no idea what's at stake here.'

Voll slips his jacket off and unbuttons his shirt. He slips his shirt off and simply stares down at the scar on his chest.

He remembers grabbing the blade and carving it into his own flesh, the star hurting the most.

'No idea at all...'


	5. The Long Way Home (Part 5)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'Indeed.' Renee thinks, 'Hell...'

Stiles doesn't exactly remember when they moved into a castle, or at all. She also doesn't know why she doesn't question it. Instead, she's more focused on her sister's giant problem and even more focused on the fact that she's terribly horny.

"So, you're saying that you think she somehow turned herself into a giant just to get my attention?" Stiles asks, anything to try to ignore the itching all over her suddenly flushed skin.

Thankfully, Scott doesn't seem to notice as he replies, "Maybe not consciously. But given her tsunamic reaction towards me, I'd say that I struck a nerve somewhere."

"But that's so... Literal."

"Not forgetting Lydia's invisible adventures?" Scott arches a brow, shrugs nonchalantly. "Not subtle, no, but: giant... Point being; Lia's abandonment issues: your mom dying, your dad dying, Cora dying, YOU dying... Twice. Plus, the fact that when she was fourteen, she found out that she was actually an ancient source of mystical energy that was created by a bunch of monks who -"

"She's not real. I get it. You can stop." Stiles sends him a pointed look as they continue through the dimly lit and oddly vacant hallways. They enjoy the familiar and comfortable silence until they stop at Stiles' bedroom door and she speaks again. "She's my sister. My family. I've never told her anything else. You know that, of all people."

'Even more than Lydia does... She always takes Lia's side on everything.'

"I do." Scott nods in agreement. "But you made several thousand girls and women into Slayers... And then, moved in with half of them." He smiles sheepishly when he sees the guilt in her eyes. "I'm not saying she did it on purpose, I'm saying, maybe this thricewise she was dating, this asshole, Kenny, put some kind of magic whammy on her that manifested her internal blah-de-blah."

Stiles would smirk, but, "Once again, sports fans, the fault lies with yours truly."

"Oh, do NOT go there." Scott scoffs loudly. "There stinks of you, you've been there so often. With the guilt and the self-loathing and the -"

Stiles shoot him a half-hearted glare. "I'm sorry. I'm just wiped." She sighs tiredly. "Just tell me now, though, so we don't have to do the whole awkward dance thing..."

Scott looks slightly confused.

Stiles doesn't notice. This all seems very natural to her for some reason as she gives him her best sexy pout and asks, "Are you coming to bed?"

Scott sighs, looks rather hesitant. "Stiles, we both know what a horrible mistake this is."

"I'll be gentle this time. I can be gentle. I promise."

Stiles doesn't remember exactly when they had sex. Her thoughts seem all fuzzy tonight and she can't think why.

Scott huffs and Stiles takes the defeated sound as invitation enough to grab him by the collar and pull him into her room. She kicks the door shut, swirls him around and presses a rather hard kiss to his lips.

To be honest, it's weird, kissing Scott. The boy she's known since she was three years old. The boy who is practically her fricking brother.

And now everything is starting to make sense to Stiles when suddenly, Scott's head literally falls off and rolls along her bedroom floor.

"What the -"

"Yeah, you're REAL gentle."

Oddly, there's no blood spraying everywhere - 

"And you're decapitated head is still talking..." Stiles nods to herself. "Okay, these dreams are getting too real... And I have actual prophetic dreams that come true..."

Stiles hears and feels the rumbling, then. The walls shake around her and a very, very bad feeling settles in her stomach.

"Something's happening." She doesn't know how she knows, but she knows. And she doesn't mean in her weird, little dream.

"No, no... I-I can't go outside yet. I'm afraid of the dark."

Stiles doesn't know why she says it, because she has never been afraid of much, even before she became the Slayer at just fifteen years old. But maybe it's because this isn't one of her fun (and rare) lucid dreams where she has full control. This is definitely something worse.

"Stiles, you ARE the dark." Scott's head gives her a pointed look from the floor just as the window smashes in behind her.

"That's what I meant!"

Suddenly, Stiles is thrown through the window by some unseen force.

"I make a wish that I don't fall to my death!" She yells as she sails down through the cold night's air.

Something then breaks her fall, something painful that stabs right through both her hands and feet.

"NEW WISH! NEW WISH!" Stiles screams out in pain and anger.

The demon (if that's even what it is, it looks more like some kind of ancient Greek Titan) is made of searing molten rock and lava and stands at probably over forty meters tall.

It grins at her as it lifts her up to face it. "Yesss.... Sssssscream..."

Stiles gets a good look at its fiery eyes and frowns at the familiarity behind them. "I... I know you..."

And Stiles doesn't know why, but she doesn't bother to fight back as the demon slowly lifts her to his lava-steamed mouth and swallows her whole.

&

"...I couldn't bare it if this was painless for you." Kate can't help the satisfaction she feels, the power she feels standing over Stiles' sleeping form.

With Lydia off the scene, it was all to easy for Kate to locate and sneak her way down into the bunker and then into Stiles' bedroom.

Obviously a little too easy, she thinks in annoyance as an arrow suddenly pierces the back of her right shoulder. She glares when she sees Scott holding the crossbow with a few of the Slayers flanking him either side.

Scott would feel stupid in his Aquaman pyjamas in front of the girls, but he's more concerned with the large dagger in Kate's hand.

"Kate Madisson. I so have not missed YOU. Long time, absolutely no desire whatsoever to see." He spits out his usual sarcastic quips when he feels a little afraid. Okay, a lot afraid.

"Wait! We can talk about this!" Kate exclaims as a distraction, quickly turns around and raises the dagger over Stiles' heart. "After I kill her!" She exclaims gleefully and she plunges the blade downward.

To Scott's relief and Kate's utter horror, the blade slams into an invisible barrier and snaps in two.

Scott shoots another arrow into the same spot and enjoys her loud and pain-filled scream.

The Slayers take this as their cue to charge at the Witch, swarming her like flies and tackling her to the floor.

"What a shitty sacrificial knife." Scott chuckles.

"What!?" Kate growls as she simply uses her magicks to throw the Slayers aside.

"Did you REALLY think that we would let Stiles sleep without some kind of mystical shield?" Scott shoots her an unimpressed look. "You think we don't have Lydia's Witchy friends looking out for us when she's not around?" He scoffs, looks rather amused as she glares at him with her crazed eyes. "This isn't open-wand night in Sunndydale, sweetcheeks. You're dealing with the pros."

And now it's Kate's turn to scoff and smirk smugly as she says, "Well, any of you PROS notice that your darling Stiles is still asleep? She's living a nightmare, genius. A nightmare that I made just for her. And, oh yeah," She cackles, "The only thing that can wake her up is a kiss of true love."

For a moment, Scott forgets the fact that Derek is her true love and is currently a million miles away in the City of Angels. Instead, the immature little kid in him is more focused on the absurdity and very cliché revelation.

He arches a brow. "Seriously?"

&

"Yeah, right. There's no love there." Renee scoffs, but turns away and stares off into the night so that the other girl can't see her blush.

Moana chuckles. "No, of course not. The sudden interest in comic books, James Bond movies and fucking drywalling have absolutely nothing to do with Mr. McCall." She chuckles again as she adds, "And I'm not even gonna bring up you volunteering for the fucking graveyard shifts just so you can be with him, because that's just -"

"Do you hear that?" Renee feels that uneasy feeling she feels whenever vampires or demons or anything bad is near and this is one ability she's most thankful for.

'Scott would call it "spider senses." Okay, focus. You may die here.'

Moana nods, a scowl forming on her face as she lifts her axe. "Sounds like... Groaning? ...Lots of groaning..."

The girls glance at one another before slowly peering over their shoulders.

"Oh, hell." Moana mutters as she simply watches the hundreds of zombies crawling, sliding and all marching straight towards them.

'Indeed.' Renee thinks, 'Hell...'

"We gotta get back to the bunker."

"What if we lead them there? We don't know if they know where it is."

"Fuck!"

"Just run!"


	6. The Long Way Home (Part 6)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "'I'd like to test that theory.'"

"So, it doesn't actually have to be someone SHE'S in love with.''

Kate huffs, feeling slightly exasperated, because how many times does she have to explain? "No, I said. It just has to be someone who is truly in love with her."

"But not, like, friend-love?"

"Exactly." Kate nods. "Someone who wishes to kiss her; who's passionate about her."

"So, not a sister." Scott notes more to himself. Right now, he's just ruling out the non-options, anything to help wake Stiles.

"Maybe a twisted sister." Kate shoots him a slightly disgusted look.

"Funny." Scott smirks slightly because he actually does find the band reference kind of funny. "Seriously, though, I really hate you."

"Don't worry, the feeling's mutual." Kate grumbles.

Scott rolls his eyes just as the door slams open.

Moana is still trying to catch her breath as Renee exclaims, "We're under attack! Full breach on the east exit!"

"Who?" Scott asks simply.

"Um..." Renee blinks. "The living dead, sir."

"Wow, Kate," Scott scoffs at her. "You're doing all the classics tonight, huh?"

Kate simply smirks back at him.

Scott turns to the other Slayers. "I need you three out in the field with the rest of the girls."

"And what about the wicked Bitch of the West here?" Hayden asks, glaring over at the Witch.

"Don't worry about her." Scott smirks smugly at the Witch, knows she's never been anywhere near as powerful as Lydia and knows she hates that fact. "She's bound by our magical security. Otherwise, she'd have bailed by now."

Kate glares back at him.

"Keep a guard on her at all times." Scott appoints Hayden to that duty before turning to Rowena. "Get our Witches working on this 'true love' crap."

Kate chuckles. "It's real, Scott. Your star player is out of the game unless she receives a kiss from someone who is passionately devoted to her." She says as she leans back against the dresser and smirks over at Stiles' unconscious form. "Care to give it a whirl?" She glances back at him, her smirk widening into a grin.

Scott simply shoots her a withering look.

Maybe ten years ago, he could have, when he had a weird little crush on her for a few months. But that was until Derek came onto the scene and he knew from that moment that he would have to get over himself and find someone else.

Now though, Stiles, to him, is the sister he never had, but was lucky enough to have anyway. He loves her just as much as he loves Lydia, who he has known for his entire life and practically is his sister.

"Keep your mouth shut." Hayden barks, shooting her a glare and pointedly aiming her own crossbow at the evil Witch.

Kate rolls her eyes, not afraid at all.

&

On the moors, it's like something out of a horror movie as two hundred and fifty-something Slayers fight many hundreds more of the living dead.

No Slayers have perished, nor are any of them particularly injured, but the numbers alone are starting to overwhelm them. Even if they're not all that difficult to defeat, they just keep coming.

'Fucking zombies...'

Scott is with the few Slayers left behind, manning the comms and watching over Kate.

'Surprised we haven't had more of these bastards over the years... Well, until now...'

&

'Stop... Stop it... Please...'

Stiles doesn't know where she is. Even if it's a dream, she doesn't know if she's alive. Though, she doesn't feel dead (and she's died enough times to know), because she feels pain, all too real.

"Please... It hurts too much..."

It's dark, wherever she is. There's nothing and no one. At least, that's what she thought.

Her eyes that were screwed tightly shut snap open when she hears a familiar voice, one she hasn't heard in a few years.

"You can't give up THAT easily, Stiles..."

Stiles squints, tries to make out the dark figure that suddenly extends a hand out to her from the darkness.

"I have too much I need to show you, love."

Stiles doesn't care if this is real or if she's still dreaming as she blindly reaches out for his hand. Anything to take this pain away.

&

"Cutting their heads off isn't fucking working!" Malia roars in half-anger and half-panic. "It's not even slowing them down! They're just sprouting new heads!" Any other time, she would be mortified that she practically just swore at her captain, but right now, she's trying not to get bitten or get eaten as she slices through every zombie head that comes near her.

&

Scott watches the girls through their bodycams on the monitors, watches his girls fight for their fucking lives as he tries to think of his next move.

"Orders, sir!?" Braeden's voice buzzes through.

Kate chuckles at the panicked look on Scott's face. "All that time you lot spent underground with nothing to do, but to train and get better and stronger." She lets out a derogatory snort. "Over two hundred Slayers and there's not a single a person here who can stop me."

Scott wants to punch her in a smug-shit face, but suddenly there's a bright white flash of light that fills the room. He lifts his hands to shield his eyes and when it's over he is dreading what comes next. He opens his eyes and lets out a huge sigh of relief.

Kate, however, looks slightly alarmed.

"Like Deucalion once said to me;" Lydia smiles, bright green eyes lit with amusement. "'I'd like to test that theory.'"


	7. The Long Way Home (Part 7)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "She just really pissed me off."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chris and Kate are not related.

'"My love." He called me, "my love...'"

Stiles is still where it's all black and dark, but somehow she can now see in it.

'And then, I threw up in my mouth a little.'

Stiles swallows down the bile as she stares back up at the man standing in front of her. "Chris Rayne?"

Chris sends her his usual cocky smirk. "In the flesh, love... Well, sort of."

"Ew." Stiles shoots him a rather disgusted look. "You HAVE to stop calling me that."

"It's an expression, pet... Like 'pet.'" Chris shrugs.

"That one is also not okay." Stiles states, then looks confused as she asks, "How did you get in my dream?"

"Lo -" Chris smiles sheepishly when she glares at him. "Stiles," He corrects himself, "We haven't got a lot of time here."

He tries to walk passed her, but Stiles stops him with a firm hand on his shoulder. "You're a chaos-worshipping wannabe sorcerer, who takes up absolutely zero space in my subconscious. Which can only mean you forced your way into my dream." She shoots him a look between annoyance and curiosity.

"I just hitched a ride." Chris explains. "And we're not in your dreams anymore. We're in your dream-space."

Stiles sighs loudly, tiredly. "Okay, explain, now. What the hell is a dream-space?"

"In brief?"

Stiles nods.

"You are always dreaming every dream you could dream, all of the time. Even when you're awake, a part of your brain is stirring that little brew. Which one you choose to remember in the morning is based on your wishes, your anxieties - in your case - your collective Slayer memories and prophecies are thrown in the mix as well. It's a vast and fascinating place. Everywhere you turn, there is a part of you waiting."

Stiles just blinks at him, now even more confused than before.

Chris chuckles at her expression and asks, "Do you want to see a little?" He grins mischievously as he pulls up his right hand and literally rips a hole into the blackness surrounding them, tearing into whatever fabric of reality this is.

Stiles squints as her eyes adjust to the bright light pouring out of the tear and when they do they immediately widen at what she sees.

It's herself, as she looks now. She's completely naked and sandwiched in between an equally naked Derek and Theo. Their hands, she can't even fucking see where they are and their lips!

"Holy fucking shit! What!? No!!" Stiles barges Chris out of the way and instinctively forces the tear closed, leaving them in the blackness again.

Chris laughs. How can he not?

"Okay, yes. It's been a slow year on the sex front for me. Shut the fuck up." Stiles grumbles out, now glaring daggers at him.

"You've been trapped in this space." Chris says, quickly gets back down to business before they run out of time. "Not by me. I promise." He crosses his fingers for her to see, only earning an eye roll, but she believes him (he can tell, because she isn't trying to beat the ever living shit out of him like she usually does).

He doesn't particularly root for Stiles and her gang (what with being kind of evil). However, he does like the girl. And of course, he still thinks of dear old Deucalion as a brother. Even if he doesn't like him much anymore, the two have their fair share of history.

"But we've got to move fast if you're going to be any help on the outside."

Stiles dreads the answer, but she asks anyway, because she has to. "What's going on outside?"

&

Outside, in the waking world, the Slayers are still fighting the night of the living fricking dead. Scott and the few Slayers with him can only watch on the monitors in horror and crippling anxiety. Meanwhile, Lydia teleports both herself and Kate out onto the moors, so she doesn't destroy the bunker while she takes her sweet time to kick this bitch's ass and enjoy herself while she's at it.

Fifty feet above the raging little battle below them, both Witches are soaring easily threw the air, their bolts of lightning and fireballs lighting up night's sky every few seconds.

"Oh, Lyds, your craft is so weak." Kate laughs as she dodges another zap of lightning. "Didn't you almost destroy the world that one time?" She throws one back at the red head and laughs even louder when it hits her and she flies back a little. "Now, it looks like you can't even put up a good enough fight!"

Lydia smiles to herself and allows another strike of electricity to hit her. She doesn't feel pain this time as he body adjusts and she begins to absorb instead of deflect.

"What happened to you?" Kate shakes her head, almost looks disappointed. She throws up her hands and casts a little old plague spell upon the other Witch.

"I saw the bigger picture." Lydia says as she simply allows spell to take form, allows the thousands of tiny beetles to crawl all over. "But you, Kate? You're as self-absorbed as your mother was."

Kate glares at her as they float around one another.

Lydia knows that struck a very deep nerve, but it's not the point she's trying to make. "You think I'm fighting you."

Kate arches a brow, looks slightly confused.

Lydia smirks. "But really, I'm just absorbing your mojo... So that I can decode it." She then, smugly adds, "You forgot I'm also a science geek."

Kate's jaw drops as the red head begins to glow so brightly that she finally has to cover her eyes.

Meanwhile, down below them, the glow from Lydia basks over the corpses, who all suddenly drop to the marshy grounds and leave the Slayers slightly confused, but definitely relieved.

&

"Ladies and ladies," Scott grins goofily, proudly. "I give you; The Incredible Miss Martin!"

&

"The army was cute, but it was the pressing issue." Lydia glares at Kate as she floats up to face her again. "The light show was just a distraction."

Kate scoffs as she creates another fireball, this one with a bit more "kick" to it. "So was the zombie army."

This time, the attack is too big to dodge and it hits Lydia full force, sending her flying literally a mile and a half away.

&

"This cannot be happening. You're lying. You've gotta be. But I finished high school! Why do I have to take a French test again!?"

Stiles glares at the dream as she follows Chris through her dream-space. "I always have this one. Can we delete it? Is that a thing we can do?"

"I told you, love: time's a factor here." Chris explains, "Your enemy has opened her flank a little. Interfering with someone's dreamstate means attaching a part of yourself to them."

"Again: ew." Stiles says, wrinkles her nose in disgust.

Chris smirks as he says, "There's a particular memory around here somewhere that we need to find."

Stiles huffs as she continues to follow him, not trusting him fully (as ever and for good reason), but having no other choice.

&

Lydia can't help herself. She may be one of the most powerful Wiccans on this half of the globe, but she's still only human. And sometimes, that means she may slip back into the darkness that once swallowed her whole and dared never to let her go.

However, she's also grown as both a person of addiction and a Witch who was addicted to the most potent and oldest of dark magicks. She contains her balance now, like Deucalion's friendly Wiccan coven once taught her and like a certain earthly Goddess (an actual Goddess) helps her with these days.

Her bright green eyes are consumed with black, the whites also disappearing as she lets the darkness prickle at her skin, but allows no more.

Kate grins, excitement in her crazed blue eyes.

Lydia claps her hands together just once and it's enough to cause a sonic boom.

Kate manages just barely to deflect enough to keep herself in the game. She laughs gleefully and says, "NOW you're starting to make this interesting. What else you got?"

&

Scott smirks as he stares intently at the monitors with Renee at his side. "Say it with me now:" He says into his earpiece, unable to help the excited grin sprawled across his dopey face. "Fee, fi, fo -"

&

"- fucking fum!" Lia roars.

Kate gasps, eyes wide in confusion and horror as a giant pink Converse comes crashing down on her.

Lia looks down at the tiny little arms and legs spread out underneath her foot and can't help chuckling at the sight.

"Language, sweety." Lydia chimes in as she floats up beside her enormous head. "How come you're a giant now?" She asks calmly as she stares down at Kate's twitching limbs.

"Oh yeah, we totally have to talk later. Are you evil again?" Lia asks just ask calmly, because she's pretty sure she knows the answer, can tell the difference.

"It'll fade in a few hours." Lydia says, referring to her blackened gaze. "Don't worry, I'm still all Zen-Witch." She shoots the younger woman her usual dopey grin.

Lia chuckles and slowly removes her foot at the Witch's telepathic command. Lia smiles, because she knows that Lydia only does that with her because she's always thought it was cool.

Lia watches Lydia's magic-glowing talons secure the unconscious Kate.

"I don't use it unless I really need to... Usually." Lydia smiles sheepishly. "She just really pissed me off."


	8. The Long Way Home (Part 8)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "We will come to blows one day. But it shall be a day of which we ourselves have chosen. We shall not be lead there like cattle."

Chris leads Stiles halfway out of the blackness, to where she suddenly finds herself in a giant running wheel for rodents. But the actual weird part for her is that this giant cage they're in feels like... Home?

The ginormous bedroom is half shrouded in the blackness of her dream-space - Stiles only knowing it is indeed in a bedroom, because she spots the foot of a bed poking out of the darkness. Everything is blurry still, yet still somehow all too familiar for her not to place it... But she just can't.

Stiles briefly wonders why she can't place anything, then puts it down to the dream-space itself - if it's what she thinks Chris was trying to explain to her, then she's just gotta treat it like a normal dream. And even Slayers dream. Mostly horrible, terrible dreams, filled with chaos, impending doom and death. But they DO dream, nonetheless.

Most importantly, though, she thinks, is that the cage is thankfully empty and there are no giant rodents to add her weird dream - nay: nightmare.

"THIS is what you wanted to show me?" Stiles doesn't look at all impressed as she arches a brow at him. "Is this a rat cage?"

She doesn't know why the word "rat" comes out of her mouth rather automatically, when she thinks of cute little hamsters.

"No." Chris frowns, then corrects himself again. "I mean, no to the first question."

Stiles simply nods and waits for him to continue, like she knows he wants to. She always did think he talks too much. And that's really saying something for her of all people to think that.

"I've taken you too far back." Chris says, look slightly annoyed with himself.

"Wait -" Like a fog lifting, Stiles suddenly realises where this is supposed to be. "This is Lydia's room... This is Kate's cage." She glares intensely. "Kate's doing this to me?"

Chris shrugs. "I didn't actually catch a name." He explains, "But I think I connected with her and she saw me."

Stiles follows him a few paces, the cage and the room disappearing around them as they walk.

"I think this is it." Chris suddenly stops and an eerie cave-like structure comes out of the blackness to surround them instead. "Walk around a bit. Try to trigger something."

"Nice place. I miss the giant crucifying demon already." Stiles mutters sarcastically as she glances over the random demon corpses lying around.

"Stiles,"

Stiles turns to see three giant orange Xs standing between them. "A cage? Cross-beams. Like Xs... Is that supposed to mean something?" She huffs. "Did I mention that I'm not great with symbolism?"

Chris smirks, but says, "Just remember everything you see here. Twilight is falling and you're going to need all the help you can get, love."

&

'Is she okay? Is she alive?'

"She's alive." Lydia replies to Lia's thoughts, saying the words out of habit.

"Uhhh, who are you talking to?" Scott looks confused, as Scott often does.

"Lia."

"Ah."

"You can read minds?" Malia seems very excited by this.

'Can't you just undo whatever spell it is?'

"Yes, I can and Lia, sweetie, serious magick is kinda like improv - you can't just stop it in its tracks, you gotta adapt."

'Uh-huh. Is that why those zombies are now dancing around my ankles like they're having a living dead nightmare party?'

Lydia can't help smirking. "Don't worry, as soon as the ball's over, they'll disappear." When Scott arches a brow and when she allows Lia to project the mental image she chuckles and she explains, "Walking dead army are using Lia's ankles as maypoles."

Scott shakes his head when she passes on the image. "Okay, I'm done. Now, I've seen everything."

Lydia almost smiles again, but when she lays her eyes over her best friend finally, she sighs deeply and says, "She looks tired."

"Well, she's asleep." Scott says.

Lydia shoots him a withering look. "You know what I mean."

"It's been almost a year and you've been, where, exactly?" Scott asks her, almost accusing.

"We'll talk." Lydia nods a promise to him before turning back to Stiles. "So, this is one real-ass love spell."

"Rumour has it." Scott nods. "How do we deal?"

"Stiles needs to be kissed by someone who is currently in love with her." Lydia feels the person right by her, but the emotion is so pure that she has trouble placing it. "And they're in this room."

The Slayer's heart races, because she's never been able to help eavesdropping.

Lydia turns to face the twenty-something Slayers all standing around their Captain protectively and can't help smiling at the sight - because she knows that they all chose to follow her best friend, all willing to do with right thing, no matter what, just like Stiles always has and just as she must do now in her absence.

"One of you is in love with Stiles. You may not know it yet or you just may not want anyone else to know." Lydia gives them all a sympathetic glance. "So, here's what we're all gonna do - everyone is going to close their eyes tightly, and I WILL know if anyone cheats, and that one person will come forward and kiss Stiles and I swear on Gaia that I will keep your identity to myself. I won't even tell Stiles." She lets them each quickly take a peek into her mind so that they know she's telling the truth.

"Um... Okay." Scott nods. "Actually not the worst idea."

&

Stiles feels a very familiar sensation tingling against her lips suddenly and stops in her tracks. "I have a weirdly nice feeling on my mouth..."

Chris slowly blurs out of focus and then everything around her quickly slips away and Stiles finds herself bolting upright in her bed, finally awake.

"It worked!" Lydia smiles, happy to have her best friend safe.

But Stiles is still slightly confused as she says, "I just had the weirdest dream."

&

"We are not amused!"

Deucalion isn't afraid of the giant and awful-smelling sewer-dwelling demon, but he knows he has to be careful. He told the girls to wait up top to keep faith with the demon leader and he himself has no Slayer strength, should the demon wish to attack him anyway.

"No one is exactly giggling on our side of the fence either." Deucalion replies calmly.

"Three of our brood were slain!" The demon snaps, growing angrier by the minute.

"Well, they did break protocol." Deucalion points out as he adjusts his glasses.

"They were lured out there!"

"I think they were, yes." Deucalion agrees. "Someone engineered our conflict. And sacrificed a group of young men in the process." He says, referring back to the night Stiles and her team broke into the old abandoned church. "I think we need to know who."

When the demon looks over the photograph Deucalion shows him, he says, "This symbol means nothing to my clan. And we are not convinced that this is not just some Slayer's trick. We have been ever enemies."

"And ever shall we be." Deucalion agrees with the demon once more.

These creatures were not exactly good for the planet, but they never really made too much trouble.

"We will come to blows one day. But it shall be a day of which we ourselves have chosen. We shall not be lead there like cattle." He says, with determination and as he tries to get through to the demon. "Right now, all information benefits us both. So, if you learn of anything..."

&

"...We would SO tell you all about it." Mason huffs for, like, the fifth time as he grumbles into the phone. "Seriously, we got nothing going on over here. I've looked through so many books, I've got welts on my fingers. But my mom used to order this special dermatological soap, because hoisin sauce makes me come up all rashy -"

&

"For the love of John Wayne, just keep an eye out. I don't need your life story." Scott snaps, trying not to throw the phone out of sheer boredom.

He is SO glad Mason finally flew back to Rome with his girls.

"Oh, we're all on high alert here." Mason replies. "Do you think Kate's attack and that weird symbol are linked?"

"I dunno. Just a whole lot of question marks coming up at the same time right now. Just wanted to make sure you guys aren't seeing any action over there, too."

"I wish!"

Scott rolls his eyes, because 'you really don't', he thinks.

"We're just trying think of games to keep ourselves awake. It's pretty much Yawnsville on the supernatural front in Italy right now."

"Sounds good enough for me." Scott says, absent-minded as he watches the girls in the bunker tending to their wounded.

&

"Yeah, you'd be bored stiff." Mason is definitely gay, he thinks, as glances around the girls half-naked forms. He glances down at his hand of cards and grins triumphantly as he lays them down, beating them all once again.

The girls groan, but all take off another piece of clothing.


	9. The Long Way Home (Part 9)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You REALLY got under my skin."

Renee can't believe she let a whole fricking army of zombies sneak up on her like that, especially when she was supposed to be standing guard. She lays there in her cot and continues to wallow in her doubts and self-pity until she hears that lovely familiar voice behind her.

"Well, this is most unimpressive."

Renee huffs and tries to glare at him over her shoulder.

Scott smiles lightly. "One attack by the undead and Renee has to take a nap? Slayer got run through with a sword and she's here napping?" He grins cheekily. "Back in my day - which was only a few months ago - we took our lumps and bumps and we got back up... And then, we cried about it and tried to quit a bunch of times..."

Renee sighs, looks rather dejected as she says, "I should have sensed them coming... Or at least seen them. They should never have gotten over that wall... Girls are dead because of -"

"So, you're still talking about this?" Scott chirps, tries to lighten the mood as he takes a seat beside her. "You mess up, Stiles will kick your ass. Assuming she's not in a mystical coma, in which case, I or a qualified representative will kick your ass instead."

Renee sits up, but looks away from him, unable to take the shame.

Scott sighs lightly and places a hand on her knee. "You raised the call. And you stood your ground. It was all solid soldiering. So, shut up with all this crap and just lie back and let yourself heal."

"You're so butch." Renee teases, finally meets his gaze and grins to cover her blush.

Scott smirks back. "Almost kind of masculine, don't you think?"

&

Down in the basement - which is off-limits, mainly because of safety issues - Stiles waits patiently with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed on the unconscious blonde.

Kate is bound by the other witch's magic, glowing binds around all four of her limbs as she floats a few feet off the ground.

"She teleported here." Lydia levitates herself and hovers in front of the other witch, her own hands glowing as she sifts through the unconscious mind. "I'm gonna run a trace and see where she came from."

Stiles pulls her sweater around her as she shivers in the coldness of this horrible room. "You definitely think she's not alone?"

"A couple of her spells wreaked of tech." Lydia replies, "She's definitely working with someone, because she always used to try and cheat off my science homework. It was the one subject she wasn't a fricking genius on."

"Okay." Stiles nods, trusts her best friend. "Hey, so, where the hell have you been, anyway?"

"Yeah... It's been a funky time... We'll talk, promise."

Stiles nods, mostly to herself as she slowly shuffles up to her best friend in her fluffy bunny slippers. "Well, how've you been? How's Erica? Are you two still -"

"Well, she died." Lydia states, a little too calmly.

"Oh, shit, Lyds!" Stiles, her hand flying to her mouth in shock.

"Oh, no, she's fine! It only lasted a month. It was a whole mystical thing." Lydia shakes her head and chuckles. "Sorry. I always tell that story wrong."

Stiles crosses her arms again and shoots the red-head a glare on top of a totally unimpressed look.

Lydia smiles sheepishly, then moves the conversation along with, "So, it seems like you have your hands full around here."

Stiles nods. "Same old shit. Apart from Lia definitely not being mommy's little girl anymore."

Lydia chuckles. "What did she do? Bone a thricewise?"

Stiles groans, "Ugh!"

&

"This place is more or less locked down." Scott says into his earpiece as he makes his way further down into the bunker. "I'm just gonna get sit rep on rat-girl before -" He opens the door to the room Kate's being held in and immediately pouts as he sees his two best friends hugging and laughing... Without him! "What the hell? Catching up without me!?"

"Only a little." Stiles chuckles, holding her arm around her friend's shoulder and grinning at her other friend.

"There was a touchy-feely moment, I can sense it." Scott looks visibly distraught.

Lydia smirks. "Slow year, huh, Scotty?"

Scott blushes, but Stiles can only think, '"Slow year..." Oh, shit... I said that in my dream.'

Scott snorts. "According to my parents, because I live with a load of women, I should be getting enough action to make my remaining eye go blind."

Lydia chuckles and Stiles smirks until she suddenly remembers, "Hey! Who kissed me?"

"Hang on - I'm getting a reaction." Lydia says as she turns her full focus back to Kate. "Lets see where you've been." She mostly notes to herself as she closes her eyes and allows the images from the other witch's memories to flood her mind. "I'm seeing some kind of military installation. Oh, I swear, if the stupid Initiative is back..."

When Lydia passes the images onto Scott and Stiles, Stiles immediately thinks, 'Reminds me of that creepy demon graceyard cave in my dream-space.'

"Wait a second..." Lydia suddenly feels very uneasy, but by then, it's already too late. "Oh, crap..."

"What?" Stiles doesn't like the worried look on the Witch's face.

"It's a portal..." Lydia sees Kate's lips curl slowly into a smirk and her eyes, filled with black, suddenly snap open and Lydia's eyes widen as she yelps, "It's a trap!"

"Lydia!!!" Scott exclaims, his eyes wide with horror as a bright swirly green light fills the room.

Stiles leaps into action without thinking, she charges after her friend, but goes crashing into the stone wall as the portal shrinks back out of existence.

"Shit! Are you okay?" Scott rushes over to her and helps her back up onto her feet and into her fluffy slippers.

"Ugh, I'll heal in a sec'." Stiles groans as she rubs her forehead.

Scott nods then goes into his commando mode as he barks out orders into his earpiece. "I need all mystics - witches and slayers - down in the basement! Now! We need a portal reopened! Alpha Team, suit up and stand by! Damn it! Where are the mystics already!?"

"We're being played, Scotty." Stiles glares over at the stone wall. "And I don't like it one bit."

&

While Lydia is magically strapped to a cold metal operating table with a bright light looming over her, she should probably feel afraid, heck, a few years ago, she would most definitely be. But right now, she's just pissed off that she got captured and more importantly, that she let stupid Kate trick her. Again.

Kate's laugh rattles around the room before she walks out of the darkness and into the light. Her evil and slightly crazed grin is ever present as she stands over the table. "Great big all-powerful Earth-Mother godess that you now are..." She trails off, enjoying the moment as her face hovers over the upside down glare on her pretty red lips. "...And she STILL falls for the ol' rope-a-dope."

Lydia simply glares back up at her.

Kate's smirk widens. "Of course, we're contracted to bring in the Slayer - Stiles, obviously, not those pathetic wannabes." She can't help laughing.

Finally, Lydia speaks, but only because she needs to sneakily keep Kate talking about her plans. "'We'?" And then, Lydia's blood runs cold as she hears a voice she never thought she would have to hear again...

"I cannot tell you how long I've been waiting for this... Well, actually, I can. To the hour and minute."

Lydia turns her head to see his figure in the darkness and his voice is very raspy, but she knows it's him.

"Killing Stiles Stilinkski now is just gonna be a little afterparty for me. I mean, she's pissed me off more than enough. But YOU, Martin..."

The smell of his skinless body alone was enough to make her feel sick and lightheaded, but the sight of him, of what she did to him, really brings it home for her.

"You REALLY got under my skin." Peter grins down at her maniacally, small hacksaw in his hand, the shiny blade glinting and making this whole scene all the more horror movie-ish.


	10. The Long Way Home (Part 10)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Bored now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it's unclear; this chapter is a flashback.

Peter doesn't even want to admit it to himself, but he is more terrified than he has ever been in his entire life.

He thought he was off the hook, that he didn't have to deal with her anymore, but when he went into that vampire bar and tried to boast about killing the Slayer with just a gun, they all laughed at him and told him that Slayers can't be killed by guns (short of blowing their heads off) and that he should be careful because they also heal fast. Obviously, the human that he still is, he panicked and left the bar immediately to go find ways, ANY ways to protect him.

He could cover the tech parts, but when Peter tracked down just the magic man he was looking for; the Warlock Rack told him that Slayers have codes for not killing humans and that it was "the Witch" he needed to be careful of...

"But I didn't do anything to her!" Peter bites his lip anxiously. "Okay, okay - I shot her friend. But the Slayer's still alive!"

Rack smirks as he pictures all of the wicked things the red head will do to him. "She may be." He nods, but adds, "But someone is stone cold, thanks to you..." He chuckles, sensing her pain and wrath from even here. "Ohh, when she finds you..."

Peter's eyes widen with fright before he exclaims, "Just gimme EVERYTHING you have!"

And he did. And Peter threw it right at her. He threw it all at her. And there were a couple of times he thought he might have the advantage over her even as she chased him into the forest. Unfortunately for him, this Witch, whatever her fucking name is, just breaks through everything. His tech and the magicks. Everything.

She doesn't reveal herself until his wrists and ankles are bound tightly by forest vines, slightly cutting off the circulation and Peter tries to keep from trembling as a swirly mist rushes towards him. It clears just before it reaches him and there stands the woman he's been running from, should have been running from right from the fucking start. He also should have studied up on Slayers and well as this particular Slayer's friends. Just in case, you know, she was friends with a powerful fucking witch bitch!

Her eyes are bright green, their twinkle lost as is her red hair under all the black. Black veins of dark magick scar her entire face and neck and any other parts of skin showing from under her tight black jeans and equally black button-up shirt. Seems to be a theme going on. But that is what she is now, darkness, nothingness...

"Cute tricks." Lydia uses his own words against him and smirks, but it holds no real homour. She is only pain and rage now... And Power.

"You're really asking for it, you know that!?" Peter snaps, hoping his anger will disguise his fear.

Lydia obviously sees right through it and scoffs incredulously as she says, "I'M asking for it?"

Peter scoffs right back. "I'm gonna walk away from this! And when I do, you're gonna be begging me to go join your little girlfriend!"

Lydia arches a black brow as she realises something. And really, she shouldn't be so surprised. "She wasn't your first."

"What're you talking about?"

"Cora." Lydia grits her teeth as she glares at him. "She wasn't first person you killed. The first girl you killed."

Peter rolls his eyes. "I don't know what you're talk -"

"'Reveal!'" Lydia's low and calm voice booms through the trees and under the moonlight, out walks someone he thought he would never see again...

"I should have strangled you in your sleep when I had the chance." Katrina's feet are bare and dirty like her hands, like she's just crawled her way out of the pathetic excuse of grave he left her in.

Lydia doesn't bother to look at the phantom, only keeps her eyes trained on every micro-expression that crosses his face as he interacts with his ex-lover.

"Back when we shared a bed... I should have just done the world a favour." Katrina's words hold spite and venom, but her pale dead face is eerily calm.

Peter laughs it off and tells himself, "It's just a trick."

"Why, Peter? You could have just let me go." Katrina's face suddenly contorts with the same fear she held the night he wrapped his hands around her throat before caving her pretty face in with his Batman lamp.

Lydia continues to watch calmly, somewhat curiously.

"Why? Why, Peter?"

"Make it shut up." Peter glares at the witch. "Make it go away!" He snaps angrily, but his eyes are pleading with her, with them both and it's just what Lydia wanted as she enjoys every moment of his guilt. But they both know it's not guilt over what he did...

"You didn't have to kill me."

"I'm fucking serious! Make it go away!!!" Peter yells, forcing out the anger over the fear, not that it matters.

"How could you say you love me and then do that to me?"

"BECAUSE YOU DESERVED IT, BITCH!" Peter screeches and finally, when he finally looks back over at her, she's already gone.

"Because you liked it." Lydia says, her voice low and trembling with rage.

"Oh, shut up!" Peter finally snaps, because somewhere, deep down, he knows he's dead either way.

"You never felt like you had power with her. Until you killed her."

"Women." Peter scoffs loudly and lets out a nasty laugh. "You know, you're just like the rest of them. All mind games."

He talks a big game, Lydia thinks, but she doesn't need to smell his fear to see him trembling like a little lamb waiting to be slaughtered. And slaughtered he shall be.

"You got off on it." Lydia says and she understands that part, at least; the power of addiction to power. "That's why you in particular had such a hard-on for the Slayer. Stiles was your big O, wasn't she, Peter?"

Peter ignores her mocking tone and spits back, "Are you done yet? Or shall we talk about our feelings some more?"

Meanwhile, not too far away, but separated by the dense tree lines, Stiles and Scott follow closely behind Allison as she uses Lydia's trail of magic to track her. Well, Stiles manages to keep up with ease while also helping Scott from falling on his ass every five seconds.

"What's happening? Can you still sense her?" Stiles asks, desperation in her voice.

Allison nods. "We're real close. She's stronger now. A lot stronger." She gulps as she begins to sense just how much dark magic is rolling off the witch in waves like a bad smell. A bad smell of death.

"What about Peter?" Scott hesitates, because the mere thought of his best friend murdering someone (even if they more than deserve it). He forces the words out, "Is he -"

Allison saves him, hearing his pulse for herself now. "He's still alive. But she's not done with him."

And thank fuck, because Peter thinks he can hear voices in the near distance. "HELP! HELP ME!"

"They won't save you. I won't let them." Lydia smiles and gives him a look that tells him he should know better.

Instantly, Peter shuts his mouth, because it's that moment that he knows he's truly fucked.

"What's the matter?" Lydia tilts her head to the side and mocks him further with a childish, "I thought you liked to talk."

"Mm-mm. N-no..." Peter shakes his head furiously.

"Alright." Lydia nods then opens a hand to reveal the very bullet that killed Cora and almost killed Stiles, the bullet Peter fired, leaving careless destruction in his wake. "I'll talk." She waves her other hand and his shirt rips open on its own.

"Whoa! What are you doing!?" Peter's eyes are wide, his skin prickling in the night's cool air.

"Shhh."

Peter sees the crazed look in her eyes and panics all the more. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I said I was sorry!" His breathing becomes slightly laboured as she then holds the bullet an inch in front of his chest, in front of his heart. She then lets go of the bullet and makes it float midair, teasing death over him.

His wide eyes are glued to it until Lydia innocently asks, "Wanna know what a bullet feels like, Peter?"

"N-no." Peter clears his throat. "No." He says more firmly. "No, thank you."

And really? Lydia thinks, manners? Now? "I think you need to." She says, nodding her head as she takes a step closer to him just to see the terror in his pretty blue eyes. Just not as pretty as the woman he killed - the love of her fucking life, the very reason for her existence.

Lydia takes a deep breath and prepares to indulge herself even further. "'Feel it.'" Her voice lowers as the spell passes her lips.

Those words find the bullet and the bullet finds Peter's flesh, but there's another catch. The bullet moves at the most agonisingly slow pace she feels merciful enough to muster.

"Oh, FUUUUCK! STOP! PLEASE, PLEASE! MAKE IT STOP!"

Lydia didn't think she would be so satisfied by his screams of pain, because they won't bring Cora back. But looking at him like this is almost as beautiful as Cora's smile. Almost. She hears Stiles and senses Allison's attempts to locate them, but she keeps the deflection shield in place until she is done with this piece of scumb.

Peter has no strength left to scream for the moment, that and it's so fucking painful that he can't even make a fucking sound!

But that's okay, Lydia thinks, she will fill the silence and make his pain worse. Also, a little education never hurt anybody. "It's not going to make a neat little hole, even at this pace. First, it'll obliterate most of your internal organs." As the bullet takes its time so does she with her words. "Your lungs will collapse. Feels a lot like drowning."

"No..." Peter breathes out with strained muscles. "P-please..."

"When it finally hits your spine, it'll blow your central nervous system." Lydia's green eyes hold half a twinkle, her gaze transfixed on the tiny wound, on the tiny bullet slowly making its way through his flesh like a hot knife through butter.

"PLEASE -"

"I'M talking!" Lydia let's out a rather animalistic snarl as she lifts a hand up and curls her fingers into a tight fist, instantly sewing his lips tightly shut with thick threads that cause him to let out more muffled screams at the pain of them magically push through his flesh.

Peter trembles. Peter screams in his thoughts and the witch enjoys that, too.

"The pain will be unbearable." She calms down and continues talking like she never even needed to snap at him. "But you won't be able to move. Obviously, bullets usually travel a lot faster than this. But the dying?" She looks up from his wound to his wide and frightened and pain-filled eyes. "It'll seem like forever."

Peter groans loudly as he feels his insides burning, tearing up as slowly as fucking possible.

Lydia pauses, looks slightly affected by her own words. "That's truly something, isn't it?" She asks, but gazes back down at his chest. Pensively, she says, "One tiny piece of metal can destroy everything... It ripped her insides out... Took her light away from the world... Away from me." She shakes off the horrible memories and feelings as best she can and focuses her gaze back to his. "And the one person who should be here in now gone and a pathetic waste like you gets to keep on existing."

Peter continues to pant and groan and cry as best HE can through the tiny vines that thread his mouth shut.

"Tiny piece of metal." Lydia repeats. "Can you feel it?" And when he can only whimper in reply, she grows instantly angry. "I said, can you 'feel it!'" She growls out, the last two words low and spellbound as the threads snap painfully open.

Peter immediately lets out a loud scream. "PLEASE!" He tries to calm his laboured breathes as he fumbles out his next words. "God, please! Just stop! I'm begging you! I'm evil! I did wrong! I see that now! I need jail! I need - but you? You're not a bad person. You don't want this. Please. You're not like me!"

"Lydia!" Scott is the first one through the clearing and the only one to go smashing head first into her magical barrier. "Ow, fuck!"

Allison helps him up as Stiles begins to try to punch against the barrier. It shakes, but doesn't break.

"Lydia, stop!" Stiles yells as she throws punch after punch.

Lydia ignores them. She knows the barrier won't hold for long against Stiles. But that's okay. She just needs it to hold for as long as she knows it will. Long enough for her to end this.

"Please. I'm begging you. You don't wanna do this. Think about how they will look at you!"

Lydia smirks, contemplates telling him that she's going to destroy everything, not just him. But then, it doesn't matter, he doesn't matter.

"Please, I -"

Lydia rolls her eyes as they quickly blacken. "Bored now." She drones out and with a simple wave of her hand, a bolt of magic rips through him and all seven layers of Peter's skin are forcefully ripped from his entire body in one full go.

A hand flies to Scott's mouth at the sickening sound of the tearing of his skin as well as the cut-off painful scream. He stumbles back and falls onto his ass as he stares at the scene in horror.

Allison's eyes are wide, but more in pure shock. She really didn't think Red ever had that kind of darkness in her. Not even after all the recent bad choices she's made. In all her thousand years of existence, Lydia was one of the purest beings she's ever met.

Stiles, too, pausing her assault on the barrier, is staring wide-eyed, wildly gazing back and forth between her best friend and Peter's now flayed corpse.

Lydia marvels at her work for a few moments, taking advantage of the barrier still being intact.

"Oh my g-" Scott leans over and tries not to get any of his gross vomiting on himself as he brings up all of today's food. He's seen some things before, but this is personal, this hits him too hard, mainly because it's Lydia that... "Oh, Jesus -" He leans back over and pukes up nothing but bile now, making him feel even more sick.

Peter's skinless body sags against the vines as Lydia continues to stare at it, looking almost profoundly at it, like she's found her calling. And she has. She WILL end this. She just has to recharge first.

"Wh-" Even Stiles the fucking Vampire Slayer is at a loss for words. "What did you do?" She looks dumbfounded, mortified, sick to her stomach. The list goes on. "Lydia, what did you do?" She asks a little more firmly as she tries to slip into Slayer mode, but fails miserably as the shock immediately pulls her back out again.

Lydia briefly glances over her should at them and then back to the body as it suddenly bursts into flames and then quickly turns to ashes. She turns back to her friends just as the barrier begins to waver and disappear and calmly says, "One down." before she, too, bursts into flames and disappears with the barrier.


	11. The Long Way Home (Part 11)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Ohh... I bet you LOVED hearing that."

"'Bored now.'"

Peter's not scared of her anymore. But only because he thinks the worse that can be done has already been done to him. After all, he's still as skinless as the day she left him, so it's not like he's living the glamorous life anyway.

"Do you even remember that that's what you said to me? The last two words of my human life, so I remember them pretty well."

Kate's magic keeps her painfully paralyzed, but it's nothing Lydia hasn't handled before... Even if it still hurts as bad as the first time. She has to endure this torture, she thinks, it's the least she can do for flaying him (even though she knows he deserved every bit of her wrath) and it doesn't hurt that she can use this opportunity to find out what their plans are for Stiles. And also, she actually can't free herself. She knows there has to be something dampening her powers, because there is no way Kate had that kind of power herself.

"But you were upset." Peter nods his meaty, bloody, gory face, waving the hack-saw carelessly about as he speaks. "Spirling out of control - is what I'm told. Which is - well, hey, I'm not excusing what I did. SHE was never my target."

Lydia trembles to keep herself from literally exploding on them in fire and brimstone at the mere mention of Cora. How dare he even think of her?!

"I'm not even gonna try to explain where my head was at. But if Kate hadn't started watching you, she wouldn't have started watching me. Watching OVER me." Peter's skinless face grimaces in what he thinks looks like a loving smile as he glances over at the blonde.

Lydia tries not to vomit in her mouth and choke herself with it in the process.

"Do you know that she had just under a three minute window after you ripped my skin off and before I died of the shock alone? Ya probably should have checked I was actually dead." Peter bites his lip to keep his smug grin from spreading. "Your powers are impressive, I'll give you that. But thinking on her feet? This is your girl. Her magic is my skin."

'So that's why you still look like a bloody nut sack.' Lydia somehow manages to keep from laughing out loud at her thoughts, even as he moves closer with the blade in hand.

Kate shoots him an over-exaggerated curtsy and an absurdly proud grin.

"That time we came up with the spell for you and your new girlfriend," Peter says, refers to the spell that glamoured Lydia to look like him after she and Erica shared their first kiss, the glamour that made Lydia almost actually turn into him from the inside, too. "THAT was quick. But by that time I was only just learning to walk and talk properly again. But I do remember thinking up this very moment and I just have to wonder..."

He pauses for dramatic affect and Lydia isn't afraid of him, just afraid of losing a fucking eye as he holds the blade point right over her right eye.

Peter grins his best evil grin as he asks, "Are you bored NOW?"

&

Lia can't help it as she punches off a large chunk of the abandoned church. She's angry at Kate. Kind of angry at Stiles. And scared shitless for Lydia.

"Uh, Lia," Stiles stands a few yards away and watches as her ginormous little sister punches holes into her... Home? Shelter. Yes, shelter. "You DO know that you're not as proportionally strong as you are... Large." She winces to herself and waits for a reaction.

"Ugh! I know!" Lia spins around to face her tiny big sister. "I just - ugh, this actually does hurt -" She groans, cradling her giant, bloody fist and Stiles wrinkles her nose as two giant blood droplets land on the grass below, creating rather large red puddles. "I can't let something bad happen to her."

Stiles considers her answer before saying, "Well, if they manage to get the portal open again -"

"I'm too fucking fat to go through it! I get it." Lia snaps and glares at Stiles when she sucks her bottom lip into her mouth to keep from laughing. "I'm useless. I know. You don't have to rub it in."

"C'mon, Lia," Stiles shoots her a withering look. "That's not what I -"

"Just bring her back. Please." Lia huffs out the last part rather begrudgingly. "I trust you to do that, Stiles, I do. But please do it." She sighs in defeat and turns to look out over the moors just so she doesn't have to see the look on her sister's face as she admits, "I'm not trying to be a bitch to you, for once, I swear, okay. I just... Lydia is like a mother to me..."

&

"Ohh... I bet you LOVED hearing that." Scott swears he feels a second-hand sting from the littlest Stilinkski's words.

Stiles ignores the subject, pushes it aside, which she's pretty good at. "How much longer?" She instead asks, the two of them standing side by side as they watch their three best psychics and witches chanting in front of the wall where the portal opened.

"Teleportation isn't an exact science, Stiles." Scott tells her. "And as good as these girls are, we're strictly lacking in one Lydia or one Deucalion, so... They're saying a couple of hours. The portal echo is maybe big enough for one or two people."

Stiles nods in understanding. "What can I do?"

Scott lets out a quiet sigh. "Think now who your portal buddy is gonna be."

Stiles frowns. "Scott -"

"I'm not a true fighter, Stiles. And I got no magic mojo." He tells her, giving her a look that tells her it's okay, he understands and accepts his place in all of this. He's not one of the major players, but he knows he's still important to the Slayer - to Stiles. "But if there is any satellite bounce, I'm your eyes and ears. This is Lydia. So we play it smart. And we remember that she's more powerful than all of us..."

&

Lydia doesn't scream, but that's okay, because she's screaming in her head while also somehow having the strength to block out Kate's telepathy, because she will not give her the satisfaction. Her seventh right eyeball is already quickly starting to regenerate when he reaches forward and uses the blade to scoop it out. Lydia grits her teeth, but doesn't dare to scream.

"And there in lies, it's very operatic, your downfall." Peter laughs as he dangles her bloody eyeball in front of her remaining eye. "You're just SO fucking strong!"

Kate smiles gleefully to herself as she just sits back and enjoys "the show."

"These nifty magical bonds around your ankles and wrists will siphon any and all magic you try to use. Oh, and they also get stronger the stronger you get." Peter smirks as best he can with no actual lips. "Try it. Go all dark and evil. I WISH you would." He spits nastily, clearly trying to antagonize her. "I think you might... If I just push hard enough..."

He presses the blade into her chest, slowly, just like that bullet that ripped through him and finally, Lydia has to scream out.

&

Unbeknownst to Stiles and the others, Lydia's screams can be heard across the dimensions and the friends she has in "high places" heed her screams. Five goddesses meet up somewhere near the world where there is nothing but shrimp and all look as worried as the next.

"For goodness sake, yes! We must grant her access!" The Forest Goddess throws up her hands and with the motion, she brings herself and the other four to the world where everything is temporary and bearable.

&

"Malia, get your favourite blade and be ready for anything and the mother of anything." Stiles stands in front of the girls with the scythe in hand and Scott helps the others choose their perfectly suited weapons.

&

The politician and General Voll storm towards the door just as Kate comes out of the room and shuts it behind her.

"We heard screaming." The politician says, looking slightly alarmed.

"And you've disabled the cameras." General Voll says, shooting her a disapproving look.

"I know." Kate nods. "I'm sorry guys, but there is NO way Stiles isn't gonna come after this particular subject." She cuts off the general when he tries to speak. "You just have that big atomo phallic thingy pointed at the portal and you'll get your Slayer. She'll come after this witch like a dog comes after a bitch in heat, that I can swear to you. But the witch belongs to my boyfriend." She says, wearing an evil grin. "They have history. She's kind of a history major..."

&

"It should have been one of you." Malia grumbles and she doesn't know why she isn't more happy about it. This is what she wanted. She likes being the favourite. But she also doesn't like lying to Stiles.

"Heh. Ya don't think we know that?" Rowena smirks, playfully nudging her with a foot as she walks passed. "Personally I jus thenk Stiles wants teh die lookin at ye great hairdo."

"Well, Stiles IS the boss." Hayden grins to herself when she sees Malia glaring at her from the corner of her eye.

"Please," Malia begs as she stares at the reflection of her tired blue eyes in the blade of her favourite katana. "Don't embarrass me."

&

"Kill any demon you see. With humans, try not to go for the kill unless absolutely necessary."

"Kill humans?" Malia arches a brow, but it's Hayden who always has the guts to question their leader.

Stiles turns to face them both and the rest of the Slayers and tells them very firmly, "Lydia said Kate's magic is mixed with tech. You all fight with me and one another, NOT against me and NOT next to me. Is that clear?" She knows she was hard on Kira for her past, but that is very different. Besides, she has never killed a human yet and of course only expects it from the girls if they're just following her lead.

"Yes, ma'am!" The girls chorus immediately, taking the hint from her rather stern look.

"Okay, good." Stiles sighs then turns to Malia and asks, "Got any lip-gloss?"

"Oh, uh, yeah." Malia fumbles about her pockets, her katana awkwardly tucked under her arm as she does.

"Thanks. I'm all crackly." Stiles says as the younger woman finally locates it in her back pocket and hands it over. "We get Lydia and we get out." She says as she applies the gloss to her chapped lips. "If she can't leave for any reason, then neither can I. So, if I tell you to bail with the girls, you do it without so much as a word of resistance. You get out and you regroup."

Malia simply nods and takes back her gloss when its handed back to her.

Stiles presses her lips together to rub the gloss in and when the taste of the gloss finally registers with her brain, her eyes wide as she whispers, "Cinamon..."

&

"As you know, this refuge is only temporary." The Icey godess states just as the witch arrives before them.

They're as giant as mountain edges as she slowly floats down towards them, but regular human size by the time she stops amongst them.

"We cannot undo what is happening on your plane, but your heart and mind are welcome to bide here until it is time." The Hunter Goddess tells the Witch as she runs her fingers through her red hair and stares ever adoringly at her.

Lydia gulps lightly. "And by 'time' do you mean time for me to die?"

"We cannot know." The Forest Goddess says.

"Because it is not for us to know." The Icey Goddess adds.

"But YOU can." The Werewolf Goddess says.

"Look over the edge." The Icey Goddess tells her, motioning to the black abyss they float over.

Lydia peers down and her own fire burns back at her, almost blinding her. "This is me." She knows it, can feel it.

The Hunter Goddess nods. "Yes. We hide your agony by reformulating its presentation."

"What you see is possibility. Thoughts." The Icey Goddess explains, "Courses of action. Pieces of what you could be... Ending." And she is sad as she says it, because she doesn't want their beautiful Witch Goddess to perish, but it would mean that she and her sisters could house her soul safely for the rest of eternity.

"He's labotamising you." The Fire Goddess (the usually quietest) blurts out with wide and worried fire-filled eyes. "Do you have a plan?" Because while she is worried, she also has tremendous faith in her wonderful Witch Goddess.

&

"We have movement! It's opening!" General Voll exclaims. He quickly checks to make sure the safety is off his gun and points it towards where the portal is supposed to be reopening.

The portal generator is at the ready, the machine the size of a small jet. The men manning the machine are ready. The soldiers with their guns all poised are ready.

As is General Voll as he yells, "Everybody clear!"

&

"Everybody get in place. We have zero seconds!" Scott tells the girls before turning to the girl in charge. "Bring me back a red head."

Stiles points the scythe at him and winks. "You got it."

"It's opening!" Braeden calls out.

Stiles rushes over to stand with her girls, all with their weapons at the ready just as the bright flashing lights swirl into being and then slowly start to expand.

"Remember the three second lag." Scott reminds them as he takes a few steps back.

&

General Voll alleviates some of his pent up anger through his cry of, "FUCKING FIRE!"

&

"And NOW!" Scott yells.

Braeden helps Malia as they flip the large mirror around and point it toward the portal. And just in time, too, as a hail of incoming gunfire blasts through.

&

General Voll's eyes widen, because he knows he hasn't enough time to take cover as he mutters, "Oh, shit..."

&

"It's all just smoke and mirrors." Scott wears an absurdly proud grin as he mutters, "Goddess, I love magic."


End file.
